The Equestrian Outbreak
by Blue-Gryphon297
Summary: Equestria was a land of peace and harmony. But now it's the complete opposite when the ancestors of the ponies have awoken and attacked Manehattan. Somepony considered this attack as a chance to make his own army of his ancestors. That idea backfires on him as these cryptids turned on him and destroyed the facility that they were held captive in and now roam Equestria.
1. Prologue

The Equestrian Outbreak

Prologue

The date is unknown; nopony bothered to keep track after the cryptids broke out of the hidden facility under beloved Appeloosa, the last place anypony expected to find a facility that was home to hundreds of those monsters. It still remained a mystery to everypony how they attacked Manehattan first, since it was quite far from their home. Many theorized that they burrowed their way into the city, which could possibly be the case on account that the cryptids' razor sharp hooves can break through many surfaces, even iron. According to the files that the military salvaged from the destroyed facility, these cryptids were once an ancient race of ponykind that date farther back than Celestia or Luna could remember. They were so old, finding a book on the ancient species was very hard, even for the royal sisters who kept records on almost only thing that all of Equestria found about the cryptids was a few pieces of paper that were written in a very prehistoric language and was very hard to translate since this language has been dead for centuries. Telling by the sketches, these ponies were at the top of the food chain: sharp teeth, hooves that sharp around the edges instead of round, most likely making it easy to slice through their prey, and a light shade of crimson for their irises. These frightening creatures are out there, slaughtering ponies and without much knowledge of their ancestors, they were left nearly defenseless. Many ponies could do nothing but barricade themselves and their loved ones in their homes waiting for the inevitability of death to blow down their door and take them. With the recent law passed saying that anypony can bear firearms, there was not one day that was silent in any city; the sound of gunfire echoes through the ravaged towns like an ongoing firework display. Bullets could only help if you're against one to three cryptids, but since the cryptids normally traveled and hunted in packs, your best chances are hiding and hope that they won't find you.

"Command, this is Echo Squad," A military pony spoke into a radio. He's located in Appeloosa with his partner, scouting Appeloosa for survivors or supplies to take back to Canterlot. "Appeloosa has already been scavenged for supplies; every building was broken into and looted for whatever we needed most." There was a moment of silence until a voice came from the radio. "Understood. Were there any survivors?"

"Negative, sir everyone here has either died or took off."

"Damn it all… Alright, we're arranging a ride for your return, what is your exact location?"

"We're at the town squa-"

"Repeat your last, Echo, what's your location?"

"One second, sir. I heard something. Foxtrot, go check that out."

A moment of silence was quickly interrupted by a scream for help in the radio that made their commanding officer jump all the way in Canterlot. "Echo squad! Do you read me?!" The commanding officer frantically yelled into the radio. "We're surrounded by cryptids!" yelled the Squad leader. "Foxtrot is down! Requesting immediate evac! I say again, requesting immediate AAAAHHH!" The last thing the commanding officer heard after his soldier's scream was a loud screech, louder than any cryptid he's heard before, then nothing but static. "Damn it…" the commanding officer groaned as he quietly grieved over his fallen comrade and only brother he had left in this living hell that has taken over what was once a land of tranquility.


	2. Project: Nightfall

The Equestrian Outbreak

Chapter 1

3 months earlier...

"Vermilion, why did you bring Moondancer and I here to appeloosa?" Asked a very tired Blue Gryphon who is on the breaking point of just collapsing of being extremely tired and hungry . "For the fifth time, Blue, we're here because they have the BEST pie in Equestria here!" Replied Vermilion. "You mean to tell me," said Blue Gryphon "that i flew tons of miles just to eat pie?!" "Can it, Blue," said an irritated Moondancer. "You flew a LOT more when you served in the Delta Force" "That was 7 years ago! And I was fighting for a country with a rifle in one hoof and a wounded pony on my back, not roaming for something decent to eat." Blue replied angrily at them both. "Ease it man," said Vermilion "We're here." Soon the three of them had sights on appeloosa and broke into full sprint until they reached the pie shop doors. There was a sign that said "Welcome to appeloosa's pie shop! We deliver!" "They deliver?!" Asked Blue. "Heh heh. I guess," said Vermilion. "You are SO lucky that we're in public" Blue scolded Vermilion. They entered the shops and each ordered a 12 inch pie. Except for Blue. He ordered a 12 inch cheesecake. While it was being made, they decided to walk around appeloosa and see what this town had to offer. "I'm gonna use the restroom, I'll catch up later" said Blue. "Okay, just meet up at the pie shop in 20 minutes" Moondancer told him. With that, Blue trotted to the public restroom and did his business. When he was washing his hooves, he saw into the mirror in front of him and saw something in a stall beside the one he used. It was a file folder. He checked if there wasn't anyone in there. There wasn't so he went in and grabbed the folder. It was labeled "Project Nightfall". 'I wonder what this has inside,' he wondered. He opened the folder and the first file said, "Outbreak in Manehattan only the beginning; the zombies escaping the lab have went hidden and are possibly breeding." There was an audio file there too. Once he listened to it, he said "I've gotta tell the others!" 'But not in public.' Gryphon thought to himself. ' I don't wanna see appeloosa go freaking out and telling other city residents and let word spread.' So Blue hid the folder under his wing and walked to the pie shop. Vermilion and Moondancer have beat Blue to the shop and just as the pies were finished, Blue walked in. He grabbed the pies and cheesecake and brought them to their table. "Thanks Blue," Vermilion and Moondancer said in unison. They knew that Gryphon had something bothering his in his mind by the way he poked at his cheesecake. "What's wrong, bro?" asked Vermilion as he looked at Blue wondering what's bothering him. His only response was him tossing the folder to them and pointing one hoof to it. "Open it." said Blue in an unusually timid voice, as if he just lost a stallion in the battlefield. They read all the files and their expressions went from happy to grim after every file they read. "There's an audio file in there too," Gryphon whispered. "We'll use these to listen to it ." Vermilion said as he pulled out his three way headphones- one jack, and 6 buds for 3 ponies to use. They plugged the jack in and listened. The file said, "My name is Dr. Samantha Cross. They're gonna kill me for what I'm about to say. But if I don't speak up now, millions will suffer for my silence. 2 months ago I was hired by Captain David Archer to work for him for a project code named "Nightfall", an experiment that researched cryptids, or zombies. Not long after I was recruited, there was an outbreak from the facility that led the cryptids to Manehattan. While the military took care of the outbreak in Manehattan, Archer was smuggling cryptids out of the quarantine zone to experiment on them, trying to turn them into soldiers of his own little army." There was a loud banging in the background. "They're coming for me! Stop Archer, destroy Nightfall! Hurr-" Then static. "Wait," said Moondancer. "The Manehattan outbreak wasn't made up?" "I guess not," said Gryphon "Listen you two" said Moondancer, "Nopony else needs to know this. Somepony out there needs help and that's where we come in" "Where do we start looking for a place that had a "cryptid" outbreak?" Asked Vermilion "We could probably begin at this abandoned bioengineering lab. It's in the middle of nowhere where it snows all year to avoid detection from enemies," said Gryphon "It would probably be too cold for anypony to suspect that somepony actually works there." "How are we gonna locate a bioengineering base in the middle of nowhere that's probably covered in snow with no possible chance of finding it?"asked a very doubtful Moondancer. "Oh, Moondancer, you're always such a downer," said Gryphon "Anyway, I have the coordinates that lead to the base. But before we go, lets eat. I came miles to eat cheesecake and pie. I'm not letting them lay there any longer." And with that, the three dug in.

After 20 minutes, they found the appeloosa train station and took a train back home, a medium sized house in the valleys a bit far from any towns or cities. "Okay, you guys," said Gryphon. "If we're gonna end up fighting zombies at that base, we gotta be prepared." As he said that, the house phone rang and Gryphon answered. "Hello?" said Blue. A familiar voice answered,"Is this Blue Gryphon?" "Depends on who's asking," Blue said back, not planning to give any personal information until he finds out who's on the other side of this phone line. "Blue, it's Overlord" the voice said back in a reassuring voice. "General?" Gryphon asked in hesitation, trying to believe that his general from 7 years ago is actually calling him. "That's right. I bet you're wondering why I'm calling you even though we haven't communicated in years" replied Overlord "Yeah. I am wondering that." Said Gryphon. "We need you back with the Delta Force. There's been a zombie outbreak an-" said Overlord before Blue interrupted him "I already know about the outbreak and who's behind it and their purpose. Who this stallion works for is a mystery for me." Overlord, stunned by how much Blue already knew, said, "It's Cerberus, Blue. That's why I need you with us." The second Overlord mentioned Cerberus, Blue's blood ran cold. He knew that Cerberus is a threat, but knowing that they're responsible for a cryptid outbreak just scares him. Blue read up on Cerberus during a mission to raid a Cerberus base when he served with the Delta Force. One thing that stood out from their crimes is their lab tests. They kidnapped ponies of any ages and cut them open on a table while they're wide awake, just screaming even though they couldn't be saved. They also kidnapped the innocents to stick them in chambers and use a lethal gas on them. The gas killed them and somehow revives them. But instead of returning as ponies, they now look like mindless monsters. Their original skin colors turns into plain grey with deep holes in their skin, probably indicating where the gas inserted itself into the pony. The inside of those patches and their eyes glowed an eerie but bright glow of blue. Their manes and tails turn greyish black that appears slightly burned, as if the gas burned their mane and tail. It was a gruesome and saddening sight to see. They were named Husks for some reason. After Blue's team of 4 broke into the base and killed off the hostile forces, they showed up just in time to save hundreds of lives from the gas chambers and massacres of their own kind. "Okay," said Blue after snapping back into reality. "But if I go with my force, I'm bringing 2 friends" Overlord thought about that and then said "Agreed. Plus, only one member of the force was tracked down. That means it's only 4 of you are going" "Alright I'll ready up and meet whoever you found at the base," said Blue "Got it. Make sure that you're packing lots of weapons. Overlord out" said Overlord before he hung up. "So where's the base? We're ready to go," said Vermilion as he and Moondancer loaded up their Jeep with weapons. "There's been a change of plans," said Gryphon. I found another detail of this "Archer" stallion" Confused, Vermilion asked, "What what would that detail be?" "There's more behind this outbreak than we knew," said Blue "I'll fill you both in on the way there." Once the Jeep was loaded with their provisions, they locked their house door and drove off, not realizing that an assassin was hiding in their trunk.


	3. Deadly Assassin

The Equestrian Outbreak

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

On the way to the abandoned base, Blue told Vermilion and Moondancer everything he knew related to the outbreak. From who's behind it to how they were made in a Cerberus lab. "So Cerberus is behind all this?" Asked Moondancer. "I can't guarantee that, Moondancer," said Gryphon "All we know is that Cerberus is greatly involved in this. If there's more than we currently know, we'll find out eventually. Vermilion, can you reach in the back for the map? I need to make sure we're going the way." "Sure thing," said Vermilion as he turned around. He expected to see a map. Instead, he saw something, or somepony else. "Who the fu-" was all that Vermilion could manage before he was pulled into the trunk and knocked out. "Moondancer, what the heck is going on?" Said Gryphon, not keeping his eyes off the road. No response. Blue stopped the car and only managed to say, "What's the matter with y-" before he was met face to face with the barrel of a pistol. "Put your hooves up and get out of the car, now," said the assassin. Normally, Blue could take on anyone who puts a gun to his head, but right now, he's at a disadvantage since he's sitting down in a small area. So this time, he just obeyed and got out of the car. "Who the heck are you?" Asked Blue, still having his hooves up. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough," said the assassin as she shot Blue with a tranquilizer. Blue didn't have any time to react and immediately collapsed on the floor.

10 minutes later...

Blue snapped awake, tied up with Vermilion and Moondancer up against a rock. The other two were awake before Blue since they weren't shot by a tranquilizer. "About time you woke up," said the assassin. "Now, if you want to live to see tomorrow, you tell me what I want to know."Little did the assassin know, Gryphon was already hard at work on the rope, cutting at it with his knife. "I learned one phrase in the military academy that I'll never forget," said Gryphon. "And that phrase is 5 words long..." The rope was finally cut. "I don't negotiate with terrorists!" With that, Gryphon pounced into the air, the rope falling behind him. He landed on the assassin, pinning her down. "Vermilion, search her!" Gryphon yelled. At an instant, Vermilion got up and searched her for weapons. Aside from the tranquilizer gun and darts, he found a thin but long bladed knife, tear gas canisters, smoke grenades, a bottle of water, a few snacks, a gun that seemed like an automatic one, plenty of ammo clips, and a gun silencer. With all this that Vermilion found, he was questioning how she was so agile and fast with all this that she carried. "Vermilion! You done?" Gryphon asked, still struggling to pin down the squirming mare below her that's determined to escape. "Yeah, I'm done. I'll go grab a rope to hold her down, she's gonna have to answer some questions of our own," said Vermilion, jumping off the assassin and running to the car for a rope. When Vermilion came back, they immediately tied down the assassin. "Finally," said Gryphon, short on breath due to his little struggle with the squirming mare. The first thing Vermilion did was secure the ends of the rope to the car, to ensure she can't escape. Then Vermilion kicked all of the assassin's weapons from her reach. Once they made sure the ropes were fastened, the interrogation began. "So," Gryphon began, speaking at a distance so the assassin couldn't knock him down or out during the interrogation. "Who are you, who do you work for, and why are you following us?" "I don't work for anyone," the assassin replied. "Technically, the only people I work for is the highest bidder." That puzzled the 3. "What do you mean by 'highest bidder'?" Asked Vermilion. "I think she's saying that she's a bounty hunter, but who paid her?" Said Gryphon "It was probably Cerberu-" was all Moondancer could say before she was shot right between the eyes, dead before she hit the ground. "And my work is done," the assassin said with a smile on her face. "Which gives me time to tell you about everything. First of all, my name is Kira. I was hired b-" "What the fuck?!" Screamed Gryphon as he drew a pistol from his holster and pointed it towards Kira, ready to pull the trigger and kill her on the spot. "How did you even grab the damn gu- wait. Kira?" "Yeah," said Kira. "Why?" "Because I know you" said Gryphon. "How do you know me?" Asked Kira, confused. "In case you forgot, my name is Blue Gryphon," said Gryphon. "We served together in the Delta Force along with X for operation Kingfish." "That was seven years ago, how do you expect me to remember that?" Questioned Kira. "Because you had to get pulled out of the storm of bullets coming at you by X and I. But anyways, what the hell!" Yelled Gryphon "What were you thinking? You just killed an ally! She was gonna help us stop Cer-" "Ah, Gryphon, ignorant as always," said Kira, with a smirk on her face. "She's not an ally, she's a Cerberus spy!" "Where did you come up with that?" Asked Gryphon, extremely surprised about the information he just received. "Something tells me that something heavy hit your head on the way out of that factory." "Check under her jacket, Gryphon, and you'll see that I didn't kill her for no reason." Replied Kira. So Gryphon walked to Moondancer's body, and removed her jacket, surprised to see Moondancer wearing a Cerberus jumpsuit. There was a pocket that contained an electronic list. Many items of the list were of no concern to Gryphon, except for the last 4: Convince them to go to Appeloosa, make sure Kai Leng leaves the file somewhere for them to find, give them coordinates to a Cerberus facility. The final item on the list gave Gryphon a chill: Kill Vermilion and Blue Gryphon. If no ammo or weapons in immediate vicinity, signal husks to kill them off. "Hold up," said Gryphon "How can there be any form of indoctrination on these husks?" "The husks weren't genetically made made in a lab. The ponies were organic while the only genetics that took place was the gas," Vermilion answered. "Since there's still a brain of an organic species inside the body and not synthetic, the gas that turned ponies into husks must have some sort of trait that makes indoctrination possible. But I'm not certain if by,'signal' she meant verbal signaling like speaking or somehow synthetically, like a transmission of some sort." Gryphon put the pistol back into his holster and said, "So the coordinates that Moondancer would give us is a trap?" Once Kira knew that Gryphon wouldn't shoot and Vermilion didn't pose as a threat, she put her gun in her holster and replied, "Either a trap, or an abandoned Cerberus base." "She's right," Vermilion added. "How else could she get access to husks without a base in the proximity of the coordinates?" "So where are Moondancer's coordinates?" Gryphon asked. Vermilion checked Moondancer's pockets and found a slip with the coordinates. So that settles it, if we go to these coordinates, we'll be more than likely to fall into a Cerberus ambush. We'll just keep going to the bioengineering base. Kira, since I requested one other Delta Force member to come with me, wanna come along?" "Sure," Kira answered happily. "I'd probably be able to return the favor from operation Kingfish. I'll be dragging YOU out of the bulletstorm this time." "We'll see about that. Overlord also said we'll find someone at the base, hopefully it's X." Gryphon said, already loading up the ropes used to tie up Kira into the car and handed Kira her weapons. Once everything was loaded up and everyone was in the car, Gryphon started up the car and drove towards the location that the map showed. One can only hope that the coordinates lead to their actual target instead of a Cerberus base. "And by the way," Kira told Vermilion. "Next time you search me for weapons, at least make an effort. You didn't find my second gun or knife." "Noted," replied Vermilion.


	4. Road Trip

The Equestrian Outbreak

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Once they were on the road, Vermilion was in the back of the car, readying weapons by wiping them clean, checking for jams, cleaning out the barrels of any residue that bullets tend to leave behind, and modifying ammo clips to be twice their original size by getting two regular clips and attached them together. Most of their rifles that carried 30 bullets now carried 60 and pistols that carried 12 bullets carried 24. Kira was looking at news reports on her phone, checking for outbreaks in other cities. Manehattan has been the only one under quarantine, the other cities either have no outbreak whatsoever, they evacuated or purged the entire city, or they're gunning down every cryptid they see. Husks were a rare sight in the cities. You only saw them in small numbers. Canterlot has no source of cryptids or husks. But they're not taking any chances; the outskirts and borders of Canterlot are heavily guarded by barriers, turrets, and thousands of soldiers. Canterlot's castle is currently home to not only Celestia and Luna, but also to Cadence, Twilight, and Twilight's friends. The castle's ballroom is used for a command center, armory, and home to the soldiers, each one shared a bed with another soldier, trying to take up as less space as possible in order to have more space for weapons and soldiers to receive their commands. "How did they find out so fast and prepare so fast in Canterlot?" Asked Vermilion. "They've been like this ever since the Manehattan outbreak," Kira replied. "When things like cryptids come along and cause a whole city to go under quarantine, Canterlot will protect their city and princesses at all costs. You gotta give them props, they've rounded up soldiers and all of Equestrian royalty really fast under short notice. At least, the ones willing to come along." Gryphon took a long look at the phone displaying Canterlot. "How did they manage to get the Canterlot Blood Pack and the Ponyville Omegas to work together? It's close to impossible!" Exclaimed Vermilion. "My best guess is that when the pony race is being driven to extinction by the undead, you join up with others to live. It's pretty sad that it takes an apocalypse to bring these ponies together." Replied Kira. Once they were less than a mile away from the area that Moondancer's coordinates indicated, a building could be seen. Behind it, a factory that seems abandoned but all the windows were shattered and the doors broken open. "Vermilion, hand me the map and another piece of paper with Moondancer's coordinates written on it." Gryphon commanded. Vermilion handed Gryphon the map and the paper with the false coordinates. "Okay," Gryphon finally said. "It seems that we followed my coordinates instead of Moondancer's and ended up where we wanted to be, the abandoned bioengineering lab." "An abandoned factory? Why can't we ever go somewhere nice?" Vermilion said with a glum look on his face. "Calm down Vermilion," Gryphon told Vermilion. "I should be the one complaining. I might end up dragging Kira out of the incoming bullets again!" They eventually made it to the bioengineering lab and hopped out of the Jeep. They parked right outside the entrance so they can escape fast, if need be. Gryphon opened the trunk and handed Vermilion the same loadout that he had: M4A1 Carbine, 4 frag grenades, 4 flash grenades, 2 five-seven pistols, a combat knife, a flashlight, and a suppressor for both guns. Kira was ready with her own weapons, she only grabbed some grenades. Once they were ready, they closed the trunk, locked the car, and headed towards the entrance of the abandoned lab. "Okay, listen you two," Gryphon said as he motioned the others to the entrance but none of them went in. "I don't know what we'll find beyond this, but we only split up for surviving something. We'll keep in contact with the radios (walkie talkies) I gave each of you. But unless we're separated, try your hardest to stick together." Kira handed them each tear gas canisters. "Use these if there are living hostiles, not zombies," Kira instructed the stallions. "Got it," Gryphon replied. "You both ready?" Vermillion nodded as he put the canisters on his ballistic vest. With that, Gryphon switched on the flashlight that was attached to his gun and kicked the door open.


	5. Old Ally

The Equestrian Outbreak  
Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
Vermilion and Kira followed Gryphon into the facility. Gryphon pulled out a sniper he got off the ground and handed it to Vermilion. "Take point at that balcony over there. I need you providing sniper support while Kira and I scout ahead." Gryphon instructed as he pointed to a balcony that seemed perfect for Vermilion to provide cover fire, in case of hostile presence. Vermilion went up to the balcony and spoke to Blue via radio. "Okay I'm in position. From the looks of it, this was made for sniping." Said Vermilion. "What makes you say that?" Gryphon questioned. "There's another sniper rifle up here and a dead body," Vermilion replied. "From the looks of it, there's a hole in his chest that seems too big for a bullet and too smooth around the edges for it to be claw or bite marks. Are there any kamikaze cryptids that exist?" "Highly doubtful," Gryphon replied. "The only way he could've died was either a grenade or any type of explosive to be strapped to his chest or he swallowed one of those new cyanide pills. Once you swallow that pill, it blows up upon contact of stomach acids." "Alright then, Vermilion said. "I'm set up to shoot. Just move up now so I can provide assistance if there's any hostile activity." "Got it. Kira, stay behind me and don't fall behind." Gryphon instructed Kira. With that, Gryphon and Kira took off and checked for hostiles and valuable data that leads the outbreak to Cerberus. After 10 minutes of searching, they found a room with sealed doors. "If we're gonna find something leading to Cerberus, then it'll be in there." Gryphon said as he banged on the door to see what's the door made of. The door was solid iron, making it hard to get in. Snow started to seep through the cracks in the ceiling; the snow was already a foot deep and since it's constantly snowing, it won't be long until the snow gets up to head level, or higher. "Gryphon?" Kira said. "What's up? Got something on your mind?" Gryphon replied. "I'm sure you're thinking this too, but what kind of names are David Archer and Samantha Cross? I know that we ponies have unique names and all, but I've never heard names like that at all." Kira asked. This puzzled Blue, for he's had that on his mind as well. "Honesty Kira," Gryphon began. "I don't know. I mean, I've heard the names Archer and Cross, but never have I came across a David or Samantha. We'll ask them where they're from once we find them." Gryphon looked for a lever, and to his surprise, there was a button nearby. Once he found it, he pressed it and the door opened up. This room seemed to be important, since it was in the best condition the building had to offer: no ceiling ruptures, no dead bodies, and file cabinets, hopefully holding invaluable information about Cerberus' involvement in this outbreak. "Vermilion, I think we found what we're looking for," Gryphon told Vermilion via radio. "Seems like we found the archives room." "Nice job," Vermilion replied "But hurry up over there, I have visual of a vehicle approximately five miles from us. Chances are, it's Cerberus and they probably found out what we did with Moondancer." There was no time to waste, so, Gryphon told Vermilion, "Look, we don't have time to search through all of this, so we're taking the cabinets with us. With all of this stuff, it'll be hours until we find a useful file. The car fits through the main entrance, so just drive it in here and we'll load them in. Make it fast, Vermilion if those incoming people are hostile, we better get out of here fast." "Copy that," Vermilion replied. Gryphon hoped that his plan worked, if it didn't, the delay of the failed plan will end up with those unknowns show up and if it's Cerberus, this will end in a gunfight. After five minutes, Gryphon heard an engine rev and doors breaking off their hinges. Thankfully, the plan worked and they proceeded to load the file cabinets into the car. Although it's only four cabinets, they have 100+ pounds of files in each one. They could see the unknown car getting closer and they finally managed to load the fourth cabinet into the car. "Let's hope that 400 pounds doesn't slow us down,we need to put as much distance from that other car as possible," Vermilion said as he started up the car. They took off and were met with a bullet to Gryphon's passenger seat where he was sitting. "What the hell?!" Gryphon shouted. "Gryphon, are you okay?" Vermilion asked as he stomped on the gas pedal. "I'm fine, but the bastard in the other car won't be," Gryphon replied, readying his rifle. "I need you to keep driving forward, I'm taking the shot." Vermilion hesitated for a moment, then said,"Alright, but be careful. Remember, he has a gun too." Gryphon nodded as he opened his door and climbed to the roof of his car. Just as expected, the pony in the car sped up and gradually got closer to Gryphon's car. Seeing this as an opportunity, Gryphon waited until the vehicle got closer then jumped toward it. He managed to land on the hood of the unknown vehicle and smash through the windshield. He was now in a hoof fight with the unknown assailant while the car was still in motion. He knew it wouldn't end well if this kept going, so he opened the passenger seat, grabbed the assailant by his sweater, and pulled him out of the car with him. They rolled and threw several punches at each other in the snow for some time until Gryphon kicked the assailant in the chest just hard enough to get the unknown off of him. Gryphon pinned the assailant to the ground and said, "Alright, let's see who you are." Gryphon took off the mask and felt the wind get knocked out of him as he saw the stallion. "X?!" Gryphon exclaimed. "Gryphon?!" Gryphon's old squadmate yelled in return.


	6. Reunion

The Equestrian Outbreak

Chapter 5

Blue got off X, then offering a hoof to help him up. After they got the snow and glass shards from the windshield wiped off from themselves, they looked at each other, shocked to see each other. Blue was first to speak, "How did you know we were here? I know Overlord mentioned a teammate being here, but…you…died." X knew what he was talking about; on their last mission, Blue and Kira were sent home in a different helicopter than X. 10 minutes into the flight home, severe turbulence hit the helicopter X was on. Things were being thrown around and hitting ponies left and right. Among those things, a grenade pouch with 5 grenades existed. It was hooked on the wall of the interior of the aircraft by one of the grenade pins, and when the turbulence hit, the shaking caused a pin to come loose, making a grenade become active. Blue saw the helicopter explode from a window in his, and he was shouting, banging on the window with tears flowing down his cheeks. That was the reason Blue left the military: he couldn't stand seeing another friend die.

What Blue didn't see is that X saw the grenades, grabbed a soldier next to him, and jumped from the helicopter, freefalling 300 feet into a forest, the large trees breaking their fall little by little. X and the mare he rescued slowly made their way home by hoof, their wings damaged to where they couldn't fly home. After 2 months, they finally got home, went their separate ways for a few years, and that was the end of it. Once the military heard of the fatal accident which resulted in "no survivors", they did the best they could in their ability to clear any and all records of their existence. Now here they are, Blue and X reuniting once more, both of them hoping it would be under better circumstances.

"Yet here I am, aren't I? Very much alive." X finally replied, a weak smile on his face. Blue stepped forward and embraced X, crying as hard as when he thought he lost him, if not a bit harder, truth be told. X hugged him right back; he didn't care if anyone saw him hugging a stallion, he hasn't trusted or cared for anyone more than Blue. Always there when they needed each other, X and Blue were like brothers. The only thing stopping the long embrace was the sound of Vermilion holding back his laughter, and clearly failing at it. Blue turned around and groaned. "Never seen two stallions hug or something, Vermilion?" Vermilion replied, "That, and I'm pretty sure you should give some affection to that mare back there too!" He pointed to the back of X's vehicle. There was the mare X saved, the mare Blue knew, the mare Blue loved. It was Spicy, the final member of the old Delta Force, and the love of Blue's life, standing right there, smiling at him.

Spicy was the medic of the group, and the Delta Force really appreciated her when they were in combat; she would run past enemies and almost die each time, just to get you back on your feet. She was kind, caring, and dependable. She was the reason most of the soldiers under her care from time to time- even Blue, X, and Kira, are still alive. She wouldn't care that a soldier was on the brink of death with little to no chance in survival, she would do everything she could to keep them alive at least until they could receive medical help at a hospital. The four being friends since childhood, they always had each other's back; Spicy, Blue, Kira, and X all enlisted at the same time, right out of high school. They pushed each other forward, they provided each other emotional support when they needed it, and they always fought together, never leaving one of them behind. They all have seen their fair share of deaths in the military, which was another reason they always fought together, they didn't want one of the four dying while the others were either at base or under command of a different officer for that mission.

Spicy immediately went to Blue, hugging him tightly. "It's been too long, Gryphon. It's good to see you again." Tears were streaming down her cheeks as well, most likely from the happiness she felt from seeing Blue again. "Yeah, it has, hasn't it?" Blue replied, holding back the tears this time, mostly in an effort to look his best around Spicy. After they embraced, X and Spicy went to Kira, repeating the process of tears, happiness, and hugs. While Blue watched them with a smile, Vermilion walked to him.

"So, Blue."

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I'm guessing that stallion is the guy you talked about a lot back then? 'The brother you never had', you called him?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"Must've been real rough the day you thought he died, eh? I mean, you were still a huge mess about it 5 years ago, when we met. I can only imagine how you were like the DAY it happened."

"Yeah, it was a lot worse. But I'm sure you understand. All you can do is watch as one of the few people cared for is taken from you forever. That's how I felt"

"I can sort of relate to that. My parents were in Manehattan when the outbreak happened, remember? They were among the first to die. The only way I knew that my parents were the ones killed was because of the records the hotel they stayed in had their names written down; other than that, their corpses were too mutilated and mangled to be recognized."

"Yeah, I remember you telling me. At least now we know how your parents died. It wasn't a psychopath after all. But I can't blame you for believing that. The only survivor of the attack was too mentally unstable for a clear answer at the time. The press sure thought he was telling the truth and went with what he said, which explains the newspaper I found back in Appeloosa and how limited the information was. The only reason few ponies believed the story in the paper at all was because of somepony ordering a quarantine of Manehattan. This guy never revealed his name or looks, but says he knew exactly what that crazy stallion was talking about, and wanted to make sure he was telling the truth."

"I'm guessing that the officials back at HQ thought that this was all useless, right?"

"Yeah, but some historians backed the guy up, and I guess that was good enough for whoever approved the quarantine."

"You're military, right? Did you ever find out who approved the quarantine, who the historians are, or what this stallion looked like?"

"No, no, and no. Nopony outside of those negotiations knew what was going on until it happened. Hell, nopony even knew WHY they quarantined Manehattan. The historians and the guy behind the idea weren't even involved, according to rumors. I heard that some third party ponies were the communication line between the military and the ones planning this out. It surprises me how they got the approval; for all we know, this mystery pony and his associates could be some terrorists and we just gave them permission to lock down an entire city!"

"Now that you mention it, it seems pretty odd."

"Yeah, it is."

"I mean, how are you going to order a quarantine if you have no access to people on-"

Blue caught on to what Vermilion was going to say. "The guy who ordered the quarantine…"

Vermilion added on, "…and the 'historians'…"

"…and the negotiators…"

"…and the military official who gave them the approval…"

Blue's blood ran cold. "…all work for the same ponies. And the only group that are against what we stand for…"

"Cerberus." Vermilion concluded. "They have a history with double agent's, don't they? This was another one of their plans!"

X, Spicy, and Kira were in front of them now, X being the first to speak, "You're probably right! We overheard everything; we need to go somewhere safe to plan out our next move. If my guess is correct, Cerberus will probably be working on making their next move soon. Kira told me about the files you guys found and Spicy and I are going to help you find what you're looking for. I want to stop Cerberus as much as you all do, so we might as well do it as a team, just like old times." Spicy smiled and added, "It's not like you'd want us to leave anytime soon, right, Blue?"

Blue smiled and replied, "No, never again."


	7. Plans and Confessions

The Equestrian Outbreak

Chapter 6

On the road once more, the convoy of two cars made their way to X's house, a 4-bedroom house on a hill; he enjoyed solitude, so having a house far from sight and the nearest town several hundred miles away, he found it easy to settle there and live his life. After several hours of driving, they finally made it to X's house, where they pulled up to the driveway as close as they could to the house, and began to carefully unload the heavy file cabinets into the living room. After 20 minutes, the file cabinets were placed neatly against a wall, next to each other. They all sat on one-pony couches that surrounded the room and began to think silently as Vermilion shut and locked all the windows, closed the curtains, locked the doors, and put motion sensors at every window and doorway. "Safety precaution, just in case some uninvited guests show up." Vermilion explained as he finally sat down.

Spicy spoke next, directing her question at Blue. "Okay, I'm confused. From what I've heard, there was a zombie outbreak and a cryptid outbreak in few areas of Equestria. I want the record set straight right now: which one is it?" Blue knew where she was coming from with this and replied, "A little bit of both. The cryptids that X told you about on the ride here are for certain the outbreak cause in Manehattan. As for zombies, they aren't actually zombies; they're husks, the things we encountered in that factory years ago, remember?" Spicy nodded and Blue continued, "Well, from a 'source' we got ahold of, Cerberus has control of those husks and if they have control of somepony, alive or not, no doubt they're going to use them for something. The something in question is unknown as of now, but I'm 100% certain that it's only benefitting Cerberus and will result in casualties to anypony who opposes them, given their history. As for the supposed husk outbreak, it was just a journalist that came into contact with one and claimed that an outbreak is occurring somewhere and it's likely to spread. Naturally, the journalist killed the husk in fear for her safety. But on account that husks dissolve into nothing after they die, the journalist had no solid proof that such a thing existed." As Spicy and X processed this information, Vermilion added, "That's why we got those file cabinets from the facility earlier; we want to find solid proof that Cerberus is truly behind the husk spotting and the quarantine of Manehattan."

"I'm guessing you also want to find something that shows you exactly how Cerberus controls the husks and find a way to either get rid of it entirely or turn their husks against them?" Spicy asked, her expression of understanding now as great as ever. "Exactly!" Blue exclaimed, his eyes and his smile wide. "If we can control the husks, we can easily turn the tide in this fight!" X got up and walked to the file cabinets. "Speaking of weapons, there are four cabinets and five of us, so one of us should keep watch from my roof. I know you guys have weapons of some sort, so you can defend the house while we find what we're searching for." Vermilion volunteered and grabbed his sniper, flew to the roof, and watched the perimeter of the house from a distance.

Blue, X, Spicy, and Kira began to search the file cabinets in hopes of finding something useful. But so far, nothing but reports of repairs, vacations, employment, and all that stuff is all they could find right now. After three hours of searching, Kira gasped loud enough to get the attention of everyone in the room. When everyone turned to Kira, she finally said, "I think I found what we were looking for." She pulled out a file folder so thick that the only thing keeping it together is a binder ring. The folder had the words _Operation Nightfall _written in bold, red letters. Just as she said that, Vermilion made back inside and reported no hostile activity. "Wait…I thought it was called _Project _Nightfall, according to the audio file back in Appeloosa?" Vermilion said. "Well, the audio file must've been outdated," Kira replied. "Chances are what once was Project Nightfall got the go-ahead by someone and now became Operation Nightfall."

Blue nodded but added, "Well names don't matter too much right now; we need to see what's in this file folder." Everypony else agreed and divided the file in four stacks, one for each of them to examine. Although they feared for what could possibly be in these papers, they were all also anxious to see what secrets Cerberus left behind for them to uncover. And secrets they did uncover; they found very valuable information about what they needed to know. As Vermilion theorized a while ago about the indoctrination of husks, they indeed were controlled synthetically; each of the husks were implanted with a chip in their brain, allowing somepony or more to give commands and the husks were willing to obey- it's not like they had much choice, they were practically dead. Some reports also claim that they tried to put the same implants on the cryptids, but they failed due to the fact that the brains of these ancestors of ours somehow have better developed brains, making any sort of indoctrination thus far impossible. Aside from that, the restraints that held the cryptids down during the surgeries would snap off because of their strength, and occasionally causing nearby scientists to get badly injured by the cryptid or killed, if the fierce creatures weren't sedated fast enough. As of now, these prehistoric beings serve no one and only seek to hunt down their prey: their descendants. Not much else was found; most of the other files were either smeared in black ink in attempts to hide whatever they could, and some pages had blood all over them, as if whoever last had these files was torn apart on the spot.

"Okay," Kira began. "For now, the only way to stop a cryptid is to kill them. But do we even know _how_ to kill one?"

"Well, we can just pull the trigger until it drops. It looks like the only option that we have until we find something or somepony who knows these things like the back of their hoof." X suggested. After a moment of silence since everyone was thinking back on what they read, Blue spoke. "Aside from that, I want to know exactly how to reverse or get rid of that implant in the husks for good."

X replied, "No files indicate a way to reverse the control implants; as for disabling them, I'm sure an electromagnetic pulse will suffice. I mean, the implants are synthetic. Lucky for us, I was also an engineer in the military when I didn't have a rifle in my hoof. I can easily make an EMP and detonate it at the press of a button. And don't worry about supplies; I can easily craft an EMP with some batteries."

Spicy had to speak up now; she waited for X to finish and said, "So, if you three found this file in the bioengineering facility, do you know what this means?" Spicy asked with a quiver in her voice, facing Vermilion, Blue, and Kira. Blue nodded and stared at the group of friends around him. "Yes, the only sort of 'bioengineering' going on in there was more than likely the storing, testing, and studying of the cryptids." X's eyes opened with shock as everything came together. "That building was not too far from Manehattan. That's probably the place where the cryptids broke out of and got to Manehattan!"

Although it all seemed plausible, one thing stood out and Vermilion was the first to address it, "I don't know if that's really possible; the audio file back in Appeloosa says that they took the cryptids for research AFTER the attack." Vermilion explained that in order to make sense, the cryptids would've had to break out of the facility to start. He continued, "Perhaps the cryptids just dug their way to Manehattan; after the city was quarantined, the cryptids were smuggled into that facility nearby."

"That seems to make sense," Spicy said. "When you're handling something possibly deadly, you'd want to get it somewhere fast."

Blue added himself to the conversation, "So what you both are saying is we have to go back to the facility, and find some sort of underground lab?"

Kira nodded. "An elevator or something of the sort is bound to be in the same room we found these files. I mean, it's a very secure room, we're hopefully going to find something in there."

"Sounds good. We'll plan out something in the morning. For now, we should rest. It's getting late." With that settled, they set everything down, and made their way to the bedrooms upstairs, each of them in a separate room. Blue was finding it hard to sleep, especially with so much on his mind. In the span of two days (the day at Appeloosa was one and the second was them leaving from their house and heading to the facility up until now), he learned that his friends from the Delta force were alive, which was one of the greatest reliefs he's had in a while. But the revelation of a possible outbreak of predators which makes Blue hope that this was all just a bad dream, and he will wake up soon, back in his bed, no threat of a possible apocalypse whatsoever… His thoughts were set aside by a gentle knock on his door

"Blue? Are you still awake?" It was Spicy.

"Yeah, come in." Blue replied. Spicy opened the door and walked in casually, then closed the door behind her. After, she switched the light on and sat next to Blue on the bed. This is what Blue needed to calm him and relax: some time alone with the mare he has strong feelings for.

"So, what's up, Spicy? I thought you'd be fast asleep," Blue said.

"I wish… after numerous attempts to sleep and every single one ending in failure, I decided to come to you; I could use some company," Spicy replied as Blue tried not to blush at that last statement.

"I heard that… I haven't been able to sleep either. There's just been so much on my mind and it's practically impossible to sleep."

"Same here."

"By the way, I was meaning to ask you and X something."

"Yes?"

"What were you two doing out at the facility today?"

"Well, you remember Overlord, right? Well, he sent us to check the place out for any sort of clues regarding the Manehattan outbreak."

"So you're saying that he didn't know what was going on?"

"No. Which means whoever authorized the quarantine had higher level access than the GENERAL."

"Interesting. What else did Overlord tell you?"

"About five minutes later, he called back and said that there was someone nearby our area, waiting for us. We assumed it was a hostile of sorts, so we had weapons ready just in case. He didn't tell you who it was, so that's why X fired at you."

"Well, good thing I wasn't shot."

"Yeah, heh…"

There was a long silence, the type of silence that is rather unbearable and makes you say whatever is on your mind just to end it. Blue, however, would rather not speak his thoughts aloud, in fear that he would jeopardize any sort of bond he and Spicy had before their unintentional parting of ways. All the same, this may be their last moment together alone in peace for a while; they're about to go on a dangerous mission that may be their last if a mistake made is severe enough. Spicy couldn't see it, but Blue was internally debating on whether or not he should open up to her about his feelings. Chances are it's going to be his last chance to do it before they throw their selves into danger once more.

"Spicy…?" Blue said sheepishly.

"Yes?" Spicy replied.

"I've wanted to say this since the day I met you. You are one of the most beautiful mares to walk this land and gave me the honor of meeting you and getting to know you. There was not one day after the accident that I did not stop thinking about you and hope that you would be okay and come back. I should have told you this a lot sooner, but we were always occupied with combat and duty to have any sort of personal time. But here we are again, about to throw ourselves into another fight again. And I worry that I might not have another chance to say this, so I'll say it now. I want to come home from this fight with something worth coming back to. Maybe it's not a home, friend, or simply life alone that I want to go back to. I want something to come back to, maybe love, if you're willing to give me the honor of being my special somepony."

Spicy opened her mouth to speak, but no words seemed to want to come out; she knew that Blue was always one to be good with words and very supportive, making him a perfect leader of the Delta Force. But only once or twice had she noticed Blue being as compassionate and thought that it was just a one-time thing, only seen when sitting next to a dying soldier, either motivating them to stay strong and keep fighting or easing them into death, calming them down and helping them accept their leave of this world. It's a side of Blue that only few has ever seen, and Spicy is now seeing it being directed at her; she can now see why some soldiers manage to carry on and survive, or why the other soldiers left this world on the battlefield with no regrets whatsoever. Spicy has had feelings for Blue as well too, and she hoped to see him again after the accident. Fearing that he moved on because of assuming her death, she hasn't confessed her love for him whatsoever. But now that he made the first move, Spicy made it a lot easier to tell him exactly how she felt without having to feel any sort of repercussion.

"I would be more than honored to be the mare you come to after this is all over," Spicy finally replied. For once in a long time, Blue smiled- a smile with no sort of pain or strain behind it. It wasn't necessarily a forced smile; he was optimistic most of the time but his past of warfare can sometimes cloud his emotions, and sometimes you can see the emotional scars inside him through the smile and optimism, threatening to force tears at any given moment. But here he is now, giving a genuine smile with no sign of pain or strain. Spicy leaned forward and Pulled Blue in for a tight embrace, their first of many as a couple.


End file.
